Intraveous delivery of medicinal and nutrient fluids to patients generally consists of gravity fed systems wherein a fluid filled bottle disposed above the patient is connected by a flexible flow tube to the patient. A flow control clamp attached to the tube functions to vary the rate of fluid flow through the tube while a transparent drip chamber disposed in the flow path of the tube gives visible indication of fluid flow rate. Hospital attendants control rate of flow by adjusting the clamp until the drop rate per unit time equals a previously predetermined standard. The standard varies from patient to patient and according to the particular nature of the fluid being fed to a patient. Such a procedure is costly, inefficient, subject to dangerous error, and a waste of the limited human resources available in hospitals and similar institutions.
In addition, such a fluid delivery system generally requires that the recipient patient remain stationary usually in a prone position. The stationary requirement derives from the inherent immobility of such a system while the prone position requirement is generally demanded by hospital attendants whose duty it is to maintain fluid flow unaffected by variations in the height of the fluid bottle above the patient. While occasionally a patient may be permitted a limited amount of ambulatory freedom by placing the system on wheels which the patient may pull around, such an arrangement is cumbersome, subject to accident and disruptive of fluid flow control.
The problem of fluid flow control has been addressed by a variety of automated systems such as electronic digital control systems wherein pulse drop rate is controlled by comparing actual drop rate to command drop rate, and controlling the flow until the actual drop rate equals the desired drop rate. However, none of these systems are in widespread use presently due to high cost, high power requirements, unreliability, and unmanageable bulk and weight.
The problem of immobility of these fluid flow delivery systems seems not to have been addressed at all. Thus, ambulatory patients in and out of the hospital who require intravenous feeding must be immobilized for long periods of time while they receive necessary intravaneous feedings.
The present invention solves both of these problems in one system.